Bong! U-turn on Big Ben after Theresa May blasts plan to silence bell for four years

Mrs May urged John Bercow, the Speaker, to find a way to ensure Big Ben continues to ring out during a £29 million renovation of the Elizabeth Tower.

Under health and safety rules, the 13-ton bell is being taken out of action to protect the hearing of construction workers on site.

Mrs May said: “Of course we want to ensure people’s safety at work but it can’t be right for Big Ben to be silent for four years.

“And I hope that the Speaker, as the chairman of the House of Commons commission, will look into this urgently so that we can ensure that we can continue to hear Big Ben through those four years.”

Parliamentary authorities reacted to the growing criticism by announcing a review.

In a statement, a House of Commons spokesman said: “When Parliament returns, in light of concerns expressed by a number of MPs, the House of Commons Commission will consider the length of time that the bells will fall silent.

“Of course, any discussion will focus on undertaking the work efficiently, protecting the health and safety of those involved, and seeking to ensure resumption of normal service as soon as is practicable given those requirements.”

The Commission rubber-stamped the building work after it was approved by three separate parliamentary bodies in the autumn of 2015.

But as disclosed by The Telegraph, MPs were not told that the repair work meant shutting down Big Ben for four years.

MPs only discovered the bell was being silenced until 2021 on Monday morning.

It will be the longest period Big Ben has been silenced in its 157-year history and will begin after noon on Monday August 21.

James Gray, a Conservative MP, who had branded the original decision “utterly bonkers”, welcomed the u-turn. “I am very, very pleased they are reviewing this and I shall certainly make my views known to them. They must find a way of keeping the bongs going,” said Mr Gray, MP for North Wiltshire.

Tom Brake, a Liberal Democrat MP who sits on the Commission, contacted Ian Ailles, House of Commons director general, calling for the review of the plans to be carried out.

Mr Brake said: “I have asked whether someone can do some work, working out what the costings and the practicality of ringing them more frequently would be.

“It may be perhaps practical and it may be financially viable to ring them more frequently than is currently being proposed.”

Mr Brake said Mr Ailles had “expressed a willingness” to find a workable solution.

It is not clear what solutions can be found with construction contracts already in place to carry out the work.

Some MPs have called for the bells to be rung when workers are off site. But authorities have insisted that is not a simple operation. The House of Commons spokesman said that “starting and stopping Big Ben is a complex and lengthy process”. The spokesman said the striking hammer is locked in place during the renovation of the tower and that to unlock it and strike the bell takes “around half a day to complete”.

Big Ben will be rung on special occasions such as new year’s Eve and remembrance Sunday and authorities will now look at increasing the frequency of those special events.

Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour leader, said that silencing the bell was “not a national disaster or catastrophe”. he suggested broadcasting pre-recorded chimes in the vicinity of the Palace of Westminster but away from the construction site.

Mr Corbyn told LBC radio: “The work clearly has to be done and I’ve been listening to Big Ben for many years and I’ll certainly miss it, so if we can have ... some kind of playing of Big Ben’s sound would be a very good idea.”